Comments on: Green Burial: Like Composting Food Waste, and Your Body is the Food.http://myplasticfreelife.com/2010/10/green-burial-like-composting-food-waste-and-your-body-is-the-food/
Think we can't live without plastic? Think again. In 2007 I committed to stop buying any new plastic & I've almost succeeded! Won't you join me? Let's see what plastic-free looks like today... for the health of our bodies, our oceans, our planet. ~Beth TerryMon, 02 Mar 2015 21:05:16 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1By: CaseyJones1http://myplasticfreelife.com/2010/10/green-burial-like-composting-food-waste-and-your-body-is-the-food/#comment-212799
Fri, 13 Feb 2015 03:59:31 +0000http://fakeplasticfish.com/?p=2896#comment-212799Interesting ideas about “green” funerals. I agree that with the way the population is going, more green caskets are going to be needed. There just isn’t enough space to allocate a grave site for everyone. We don’t want our cities to turn into giant cemeteries. I really like the idea of those biodegradable caskets.http://www.elmwoodcaskets.com/services-products/caskets.aspx
]]>By: Lambhttp://myplasticfreelife.com/2010/10/green-burial-like-composting-food-waste-and-your-body-is-the-food/#comment-34941
Thu, 02 Jun 2011 02:41:24 +0000http://fakeplasticfish.com/?p=2896#comment-34941Donating one’s body is a very generous act, but be careful to choose an institution that is not in it for profit. It sounds macabre, but some companies will harvest certain tissues and sell them for use in bone grafts and other medical products – a very profitable business. Working with a medical school is a safer option.

Cremation is becoming greener, with better emission controls and eco-friendly urns (http://www.richardlamb.com/merchandise/urns/ecofriendlyurns.asp) in bamboo, paper, corn starch and other natural materials. It’s considered greener than traditional burial, but obviously it’s no match for a true green burial. Unfortunately, green cemeteries are still rare in the U.S.

As indicated in previous comments, the use of formaldehyde for embalming
and the use of expensive, non-biodegradable “caskets” are not really “traditional” in the broader perspective of human history. After all, “to dust you shall return” is very ancient language. A more accurate reference to modern practices would be “conventional burial.”

Also “conventional” today are well-intentioned efforts to party away the natural pain of loss. At best, the party approach tends to pile up more plastic and environmental waste. At worst, it tends to distort the bereavement process, in a culture where many feel the need to escape from uncomfortable feelings–and apologize for tears. Healing through grief takes time, and a real celebration of life does not deny this essential truth.

As a burial fellowship activist, I watch over and care for the bodies of the dead in my community, and I educate others to participate as well. Facing death in this intimate way, I have witnessed–again and again–how these sacred practices can bring extraordinary consolation and healing to a broken world. I know that I can celebrate more fully and joyfully with those who also share my grief in times of loss.

Again, thank you for opening this conversation, which needs to be sustained in discussing our funeral plans with those we love.

]]>By: jeffhttp://myplasticfreelife.com/2010/10/green-burial-like-composting-food-waste-and-your-body-is-the-food/#comment-24028
Fri, 05 Nov 2010 06:55:33 +0000http://fakeplasticfish.com/?p=2896#comment-24028I’m going GREEN! years ago, i wrote a short eulogy… “no box, no rocks, plant me beneath a redwood tree” … and willed all that i leave behind to people who live to make the earth a greener, more friendly place. Thanks for the encouraging story.
peace
]]>By: geoff chinhttp://myplasticfreelife.com/2010/10/green-burial-like-composting-food-waste-and-your-body-is-the-food/#comment-23987
Thu, 04 Nov 2010 23:25:58 +0000http://fakeplasticfish.com/?p=2896#comment-23987I had recently started to look into the green burial cemetery in Mill Valley. I stalled after learning that the owner was involved in some legal issues which made me wonder if the whole set-up at Fernwood was a scam or not. Given the greenness we feel in the Bay Area, such a place would seem like a perfect fit…if it were the real deal. If you learn anything more about it would you please post some answers? Though I should probably just try and go pay them a visit myself, doing so is not very high on my list of things to do. Life gets in the way.
]]>By: Michelle Cassarhttp://myplasticfreelife.com/2010/10/green-burial-like-composting-food-waste-and-your-body-is-the-food/#comment-23816
Wed, 03 Nov 2010 11:57:11 +0000http://fakeplasticfish.com/?p=2896#comment-23816Great discussing this Beth. I´ve already explained to my boyfriend when I go I want a lemon tree planted on what is left of me. (I´m also a donor. Though not sure I fancy the idea of being hurled out of a plane?!) That way I can be used in hummus & as cleaning products! & of course they are yellow & look lovely.

But maybe I should write it down, just in case I pop of earlier than I´d like to go. & end up in a “posh” box…. a true nightmare!

]]>By: Melanie Jadehttp://myplasticfreelife.com/2010/10/green-burial-like-composting-food-waste-and-your-body-is-the-food/#comment-23783
Wed, 03 Nov 2010 05:10:14 +0000http://fakeplasticfish.com/?p=2896#comment-23783I love this post, Beth. I’ve never been a fan of burials, but I never quite thought of it as a landfill. So true. This is a very thoughtful and informative post (as always). Thank you for taking the time to write it and let us all know about eco-friendly burial options.
]]>By: Kimhttp://myplasticfreelife.com/2010/10/green-burial-like-composting-food-waste-and-your-body-is-the-food/#comment-23756
Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:49:55 +0000http://fakeplasticfish.com/?p=2896#comment-23756Yeah, I’ve always found Western burial customs to be strange. This is essentially how Muslims bury their dead. They wash them, wrap them in cloth, and bury them within 2 days (to avoid having a decomposing body on your hands). No chemicals, no boxes, no plastics.
]]>By: Ridleyhttp://myplasticfreelife.com/2010/10/green-burial-like-composting-food-waste-and-your-body-is-the-food/#comment-23655
Mon, 01 Nov 2010 21:13:48 +0000http://fakeplasticfish.com/?p=2896#comment-23655A couple of points:

Having read too much Edgar Allan Poe, I’m really concerned about premature burial. So were a lot of people in the 1800’s, because they didn’t have EKGs or other ways of telling if people were really dead. So there were all sorts of inventions, such as bells that went over the grave with a string down into the coffin, so that if people were just comatose and woke up, they could signal. The occasional misburial of a still-living person may also have helped give rise to legends of vampires.

I’m also thinking of how in Huxley’s “Brave New World”, the dead are liquified and vaporized and the valuable minerals in their bodies recovered. When one character for some reason isn’t disposed of in this way, another character laments that he is “wasting his phosphorus”.

Ancient Zoroastrians exposed the dead in “Towers of Silence”, to be eaten by the birds. Their modern descendants, the Parsis of India, still do this. Unfortunately, most of the vultures in India have been killed off, so this is not working too well.

I also want my body to go for research when I die. But I would like my skull to be extracted first, so that at my memorial service, someone can hold it up and say, “Alas, poor Ridley! I knew him! A fellow of infinite jest! Of most excellent fancy…Where are all your jests now?”

OK, actually, I want to be fed to the zombies. Or better, my cats. Like the dying Audrey in “Little Shop of Horrors”, who wants to be fed to the plant, to be part of it.

When I die, bury me low
So I can hear the petroleum flow
It’s the sweetest sound I ever will know
The rolling hills of New Jersey. (See, I want the petroleum still to be in the ground, not having been taken out to make plastic.)

]]>By: Green in Death : A Green Spellhttp://myplasticfreelife.com/2010/10/green-burial-like-composting-food-waste-and-your-body-is-the-food/#comment-23643
Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:43:03 +0000http://fakeplasticfish.com/?p=2896#comment-23643[…] have passed on to the “other side”, I thought it would be an appropriate time to share this link from Beth at Fake Plastic […]
]]>